On the 10th of March 2010, after conducting entrance exams for more than 300 children from Salem (a Palestinian village near Nablus), and for the first time in the history of the village, 18 children have started their music studies, in the spirit of the vision presented in the proposal for this program.
Eleven girls and 7 boys gather three times a week, for 3 hours each time, in the rooms provided by the local council in the council’s building. Leading the program is Jubier Ishtayya from the village of Salem. The coordinator – Fadi – is from Salem as well. Jubier teaches traditional instruments- the Ud, and Tabla, as well as the organ. Another teacher, Amid from Nablus, teaches violin and guitar. The children haven’t yet chosen their personal instruments. They are in the basic stage of learning how to connect the tunes, notes and instruments.
The initial budget, to set up the program and finance the first 6 months of activities, was generously donated by dear and sensitive people from Australia. We are already working on finding the financial resources to enable the program to continue. Please forward this report to people you think might be interested to know about, and support this program.
